Jessica Lange is now just one gong away from becoming an EGOT.
The term refers to the handful of people who have achieved the incredible by taking home an Emmy, a Grammy, and Oscar and a Tony (EGOT).
Jessica, 67, landed her very first Tony on Sunday night (12Jun16) when she was presented with the best actress in a leading role prize for her role in Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
After beating competitors such as Lupita Nyong’o and Michelle Williams to win the award, Jessica told the audience in her acceptance speech: “This is a dream come true and it fills me with such happiness even on such a sad day as this,” in reference to the tragic mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, earlier on Sunday, which has a current death toll of 50.
“It’s a thrill and a joy to be in the theatre and be acknowledged by this community. I can’t tell you how grateful I am, how moved I am.”
Jessica’s award cabinet is getting increasingly full by the day. She also has two Oscars, for Tootsie in 1983 and Blue Sky in 1995, and three Emmy Awards for her parts in 2009’s Grey Gardens and hit series American Horror Story. She will only have to win a Grammy Award to be named an EGOT.
There are just 12 EGOTs currently of all four awards competitively; Whoopi Goldberg and the late Audrey Hepburn among them. Meanwhile, Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli are just two stars who are an EGOT after winning at least one of the awards in a special or honorary nature.
Jessica starred as Mary, the wife of fading Broadway star James Tyrone, in the adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
Speaking to reporters backstage after her Tony win, Jessica said she considered the part a once in a lifetime role.
“With any great part, there is a time in your life when you come to it and something happens between you and the character,” she said. “I have found that several times in my career along the way.”
“And I think in a way it has to do with what you bring, your life history, your life experiences, and somehow this one had that feeling to it.”
